Saudi petchem giant Sabic to invest $1.37bn in UK plant
RIYADH, October 29, 2021
Petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has announced plans to invest nearly £1 billion ($1.37 billion) at its plant in Teesside located north of England.
The investment will go into strengthening operations at Teesside and enabling its chemical cracker transformation, stated the Saudi company.
"This will reduce its carbon footprint by up to 60 per cent in phase one, making it one of the world’s lowest carbon-emitting crackers," it added.
Welcoming the news, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Fantastic to see nearly £1 billion invested in Sabic's Teesside facility, creating and safeguarding 1,000 jobs. It's a huge vote of confidence in the UK's chemicals and processing industry, which is pioneering innovation in clean, green technology."
Sabic has manufacturing units across the globe including in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific. It produces chemicals, commodity and high-performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals. The company’s total production reached 60.8 million metric tonnes in 2020.
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil-exporting company, which has a 70 per cent stake in Sabic, also announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050 in line with the kingdom’s goals to cut emissions to protect the environment earlier this week. The kingdom has set a target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
